Beneath the Storm, Amid the Apocalypse

[Alternate world × ultimate fantasy × imagined apocalypse × ensemble cast × healing and hope (not a power fantasy) (character-driven story) (not episodic)] Thousands of years ago, a great war broke out on Earth, and humans attacked one another. In the final days of the war, they even deployed weather-control weapons, creating two enormous storms at Earth's poles, known as the Great Storms. Earth's climate changed drastically, and snow and ice became the world's defining features. More than a thousand years ago, a group of people calling themselves the last scientists founded an organization called the Old Storm God's Church, later known as the Old God Church. They tried to use the remnants of ancient technology to create a genetic drug that would help humans adapt to the extreme environment. As expected, they failed. The drug did greatly strengthen the human body, but it also turned people into mindless monsters driven only by instinct. Still, the Storm God's Church made a decision: they would use the drug. They named it “Divine Liquid” and fired it into the three Great Storms. Carried by the new atmospheric currents formed by the storms, the Divine Liquid spread across the globe and later fell with the rain. Because it was red, this was called “Blood Rain.” Many people turned into monsters. Several hundred years ago, a group of desperate people were on the verge of freezing to death in the snow when a miracle occurred: a massive blaze appeared on the distant horizon, like a beam of light in endless despair. They rushed toward the subterranean fire and found warmth, as well as the will and opportunity to survive. Through their study of the subterranean fire, they developed a gigantic structure that burned gas: the Light Tower. It allowed humanity to endure.